Woody Allen ‘depressed’ by old films

Veteran moviemaker Woody Allen refuses to watch his films after they are released because reviewing his old work is too “depressing.”

The 74-year-old has gone decades without glimpsing at clips from his impressive archive, including 1970s classics “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan.”

And he worries his newer films fail to capture the same cinematic magic.

Allen tells the New York Times, “I’ve never once in my life seen any film of mine after I put it out. Ever. I haven’t seen ‘Take the Money and Run’ since 1968. I haven’t seen ‘Annie Hall’ or ‘Manhattan’ or any film I’ve made afterward.

“If I’m on the treadmill and I’m scooting through the channels, and I come across one of them, I go right past it instantly, because I feel it could only depress me. I would only feel, ‘Oh God, this is so awful, if I could only do that again.'”

Allen has proved to be his harshest critic. This week he insisted he’s never produced a perfect movie, telling the New York Daily News, “You know, I’ve made a lot of films, but I’ve never felt like I really made a masterpiece, and I would love to. That would be fun.”